March 15, 2022
We have now started planking the Dolphin. The lumber used is coast fir that we chainsaw milled at Camp Meeker and had resawn for air drying a few years ago.
February 14, 2022
After a delay in procuring more bending oak, we just finished framing the Dolphin and we are shortly going to start planking the boat.
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Loon is a 20ft long one-ton design, a luxurious traditional wooden day-sailor intended for speed. She will be rigged as a modern marconi sloop and fitted with a retractable bulb keel. Loon was designed by Robert Darr in the Arques School's Boat Design Class.
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Freda is the oldest sailboat on the West Coast. She was built in 1885 in Belvedere for local racing and yachting. Freda is owned by the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center in Sausalito. She was completely restored by the Arques School of Traditional Boatbuilding.
A Few Words About the Importance of Freda
Bob Darr, February, 2016
The French w
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August 2000
Stem for the Tug Boat... made from Pepperwood
The "Don Arques" tug boat is the first motor-powered boat built at the Arques School. This vessel was designed around a large three-cylinder Hicks engine, one of Don Arques's favorite possessions.
The tug boat was designed by Bob Darr with the Traditional Boat Design Class. Local tu
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Black Cat was designed by Robert Darr in the Arques School's Design Program for use in sheltered waters. It is a fifteen foot long open catboat built with lapstrake planking, copper fastened. The boat was designed to be fast, maneuverable, and beautiful.
This is the first Black Cat. The raked, curved transom is made of local pepperwood, white oa
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Eleanor is a 21 foot long keel sloop designed by Robert Darr in the school's Traditional Boat Design Class. She is a stout double-ender suitable for day sailing around San Francisco Bay, or for ocean sailing. Eleanor is 3' deep with 6'8" of beam. She'll be rigged as a marconi sloop. Her contruction is plank on sawn and bent frames. The sawn frames,
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